It’s Gary Sinise’s birthday today! To mark the occasion, here are five of my favorite performances of this American icon’s filmography. Check some of these out!
Ransom (1996)
Ransom was an interesting movie. I remember reading that Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins did some of the music for this Ron Howard film. I was interested in what he’d do outside of the band on his own. All of his music was used for the scenes where Mel Gibson’s kid was being held by the kidnappers. Sinise plays an NYPD Detective named Jimmy Shaker and he does a great job playing both sides of the coin in this one. He’s so very good in it and I think this is just an underrated film.
Snake Eyes (1998)
This is one of those movies I skipped back in the day. I just couldn’t handle Nicholas Cage at the time. Over the years I really learned to appreciate him more. So I finally gave this one a shot a while back while having a DePalma marathon of movies I had yet to see. I gotta say I enjoyed this one more than I expected. It’s VERY DePalma, but Sinise delivers a solid performance once again. Commander Kevin Dunne is another great villain role and the movie shows the same scenes from different perspectives throughout, that you just can’t look away at any moment.
Our birthday boy is back in another Ron Howard film. Only this time he’s not the bad guy. This time around he portrays Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly in this docudrama based on the events of the Apollo 13 lunar mission and what NASA and thee crew do to get the crew home. Sinise is great in this one too. He’s all set to go into space for this mission when he’s grounded just before launch day. But even though he’s on earth he does all he can to get his friends back up and running for a safe return home.
Reindeer Games (2000)
Ok hear me out… I know it’s not a great movie. But, its got a helluva cast and its directed by John Frankenheimer. It’s gotta be somewhat redeeming, right? It’s definitely worth a watch if you ask me. The acting is solid and its got some good twist and turns in it. and again Sinise plays a solid bad guy in it. Plus, if you are tired of watching Die Hard at Christmas, this could replace it every once in a while.
Ok this one may be a bit of a stretch, but come on. This one scene alone is outstanding. It’s a great scene that’s so simple and so real. Sure it’s great to see Sinise and Hanks back together again after Forrest Gump, but this one sequence has such a vibe to it so vastly different to their previous film together that you just have to watch the whole film.
So those are some of my favorite films starring Gary Sinise. What about you? What are some of yours?